Grenade attack adds to US toll in Iraq

A soldier with the Australian security detachment keeps watch as police investigate the attack on the US patrol.

A rocket-propelled grenade and gun attack on an American patrol in Baghdad late yesterday killed one US soldier and wounded another from the 4th Infantry Division, a military spokesman said.

In a separate clash, several people were injured when a stone-throwing mob of Iraqi ex-soldiers charged at US soldiers near a former military airport in central Baghdad, demanding jobs and back pay.

And in another announcement, the American army said a soldier from its 1st Armoured Division had drowned in a swimming pool in Baghdad.

A spokeswoman said the accident occurred late on Friday afternoon and was being investigated.

The casualties bring to 98 the number of non-combat deaths among US soldiers in Iraq since May 1, when Washington declared major fighting over. Eighty-nine US soldiers have been killed in action in the same period.